DISINFO: NATO finally found a rival of its size in the Houthis of Yemen
SUMMARY
After almost two years avoiding to confront Russia militarily in a direct way, NATO and its allies have finally found a rival their size: Yemen’s Houthis. With the Operation Prosperity Guardian, NATO comes to the rescue of Israel.
RESPONSE
Disinformation intended to denigrate NATO and undermine its public reputation.
NATO has no relation with the Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect Red Sea navigation routes from Yemen’s Houthis, whose attacks in late 2023 are affecting maritime traffic and sea lanes. Although the total number of participants is unclear, only a handful of the 31 NATO member states are also part of this naval mission, which includes at least 2 other states that are not part of the Atlantic Alliance. The operation was announced under the umbrella of the so-called Combined Maritime Forces, a naval partnership of 39 nations to ensure maritime security, and specifically the Task Force 153 focusing on the Red Sea, which will coordinate the new mission.
Through this distortion of facts, the goal of this disinformation story is to stir up anti-NATO feelings, while the mention of the Atlantic Alliance as avoiding a direct confrontation with Russia aims to promote a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the war in Ukraine as a NATO proxy war against Russia.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that NATO is an aggressive, russophobic and absolutely destabilising structure, that NATO and its vassals want to destabilise, Balkanise and annihilate Russia, that NATO is waging a hybrid war in Ukraine against Russia to the last Ukrainian, or that Russia is destroying NATO forces in Ukraine.